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STV News
25 minutes ago
- STV News
Teen who wanted to carry out 'Doomsday' mass shooting at school to be sentenced
An Edinburgh teenager who wanted to carry out a mass shooting at his own school is to be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow. Felix Winter, now aged 18, repeatedly spoke about carrying out an attack at his secondary, referring to the day he would 'clear it out' as 'Doomsday'. Jurors previously heard the teenager 'idolised' the killers behind the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado in the United States in 1999, which saw 12 students and a teacher gunned down. A major police investigation began in the summer of 2023 after a photo circulated on social media showing Winter at school in full combat gear, carrying an imitation gun, which caused panic among pupils and parents. He had already been referred to a UK-wide anti-terrorism programme aimed at preventing radicalisation. He also held racist and pro-Nazi views. Winter pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace and a charge under the Terrorism Act. His offending took place between June 2022 and July 2023. Defence KC Shelach McCall told the court in March that a professor who assessed her client found a 'serious link' between his autism and his behaviour, arguing it was his condition – rather than extremism – that drove his obsession with school shootings. Ms McCall said Winter had made a 'marked improvement' since his offending. She said: 'He has expressed regret and recognises that he didn't previously appreciate how his behaviour was impacting on others. 'He accepts in the context of his plea of guilty and his remarks about school shootings in 2022, him dressing in that costume and carrying that in a school would generate alarm to those who came upon it but this was not his intent.' Winter will appear at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday, July 30. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Missing Brady memoir 'could hold clues to victim burial site'
Missing pages from an autobiography written by Moors murderer Ian Brady could throw new light on where his final missing victim is buried, according to a new BBC last 200 pages of Brady's manuscript may contain his account of 12-year-old Keith Bennett's murder and burial in 1964, it is claimed. They are believed to have been deposited with Brady's solicitor, but he has not brother, Alan, has called for any missing material to be made available to police, because it could contain "vital information in regard to the search for Keith". He was kept informed of the discovery by the makers of The Moors Murders - A Search For a separate development, defence files from the trial of Brady and his accomplice, Myra Hindley, have recently been rediscovered by the journalist and author presenting the documentary, Duncan Staff. Photos contained within these files have raised fresh questions about the search for the victims. Brady and Hindley achieved infamy in the 1960s as the Moors murderers - so-called because they buried four of their five young victims on Saddleworth Moor, north-east of gruesome details of their crimes have retained a dark grip on the public imagination ever since. Brady and Hindley were jailed in 1966 for torturing and killing three children - Lesley Ann Downey, 10, John Kilbride, 12, and Edward Evans, 17. Twenty-one years later, they also confessed to murdering Pauline Reade, 16, and Keith Bennett - crimes of which they had long been body was found on Saddleworth Moor in 1987, but Bennett has never been died in 2017, aged 79. Shortly afterwards, theologian Alan Keightley, published a book about the killer, based on hours of interviews with him at Ashworth Special himself died in 2023, but his widow, Joan, has given the documentary-makers access to her late husband's extensive archive. This includes an incomplete copy of a typed manuscript titled "Black Light", which Brady appears to have writes in his own book that Brady told him "Black Light" was at least 600 pages long. The copy in his own archive stops abruptly at page 394, shortly before the murder of John Kilbride, Brady and Hindley's second autobiography contains a detailed description of where the murderers buried their first victim, Pauline Reade: "We counted the paces back to a rock on the knoll in order to be able to find the site and photograph it at a future date."If similar detail has been included for Keith Bennett, it would provide vital information about where his body is buried, says the new documentary. Keightley wrote in his book that Brady once asked him to deliver a "double sealed parcel", which he assumed to contain the autobiography, to a solicitor in solicitor, Benedict Birnberg, died in 2023. His firm told the BBC that any material left with them had now been sent to Brady's other solicitor, Robin Makin, in BBC approached Makin to comment about whether he was in possession of the autobiography, but he has not responded. The Bennett family's lawyer asked the documentary-makers to let the police know about "Black Light".Greater Manchester Police initially said it wanted to see a large amount of material gathered for the programme, but then abruptly changed its a statement, it told the BBC: "We will carefully consider and respond, in a timely and professional manner, to any credible evidence shared with us that may lead us towards finding Keith." Photographic clues? Many of the original defence case papers from Brady and Hindley's trial, now held by documentary-maker Duncan Staff and his team, have not been made public before. The files, kept for decades by one of the defence lawyers, include interview logs, notes written by Hindley during police interviews, and photographs taken by Brady on Saddleworth the initial police investigation, it was believed the photos contained clues - and Hindley confirmed in interviews with Staff in the 1990s that Brady had taken them to remember where the bodies were one shot, Hindley is seen crouching on a rock, cradling her dog, in an area known as Hollin Brown Knoll. This was later discovered to be the exact spot where John Kilbride was buried. The bodies of Lesley Ann Downey and, much later, Pauline Reade, were also found nearby. In the case of Keith Bennett, Hindley and Brady later claimed he had been murdered and buried a mile or so further east in Shiny Brook, an area where Brady also took photographs. But a police search there found nothing. The significance of some of the other photos from Hollin Brown Knoll remains "troubling", according to forensic archaeologist Prof John one, Hindley is standing on rocks, once more holding her dog. Her pose completely, and maybe deliberately, obscures a gas pipeline marker behind marker's presence is revealed in a police photo, newly found in the defence files, that was taken at the same images may be important, according to Prof Hunter, because there is no obvious connection to any of the known burial Knupfer, a former police officer who worked on the case in the 1980s, says he was told that, during the original investigation, it was "thought [Bennett] could have been disposed of within the trench of the pipeline".He adds this possibility had not been explored because digging up the pipeline was thought to be "far too expensive". Knupfer says there was a decision "taken at some level within the [police] service or the Home Office" to stop searching for the missing bodies once Hindley and Brady were convicted of three of the five murders."I don't want to criticise former colleagues too much," he says, "but it's all very well and good if it's not your children who are missing."For the families, says Staff, the lack of action has left them with a "constant enduring pain"."They could have raised money, they could have done something," Pauline Reade's niece, Jackie, tells the documentary. "There was no need for them to stop searching."One officer is said to have been so upset by the decision to call off the hunt for bodies that he returned with sniffer dogs to make an unauthorised search of the area."I can see why [the police] thought, 'This is really tough, we're going to let it go'," explains Staff in the documentary. "But do I think that was the right decision? Well, deep down, no, I don't."Greater Manchester Police says it remains committed to finding answers for the Bennetts: "Keith's family is central to any action we take in relation to this case and our thoughts remain with them."
Leader Live
6 hours ago
- Leader Live
Foreign repression on UK soil rising ‘unchecked', MPs and peers warn
In a report published on Wednesday, the Joint Committee on Human Rights said transnational repression had increased in recent years, with foreign states using online harassment, lawsuits and physical violence to intimidate people in the UK. MI5 investigations into threats from other states have increased 48% since 2022, the report said, while committee chairman Lord David Alton warned the rise was 'going unchecked'. He said: 'This risks undermining the UK's ability to protect the human rights of its citizens and those who have sought safety within its borders. 'We have seen prominent cases of Hong Kongers with bounties placed on their heads, Iran intimidating journalists – but evidence submitted to the inquiry suggest this may be the tip of the iceberg.' The warning comes amid rising concern about transnational repression, including reports that China has offered rewards for people turning in pro-democracy Hong Kong activists based in the UK. Last month, Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee warned that Iran had attempted to kidnap or murder at least 15 UK-based people since 2022, while Russia has also targeted dissidents including the attempt to kill Sergei and Yulia Skripal with Novichok in 2018. While the cross-party human rights committee said China, Russia and Iran were the 'most flagrant' perpetrators of transnational repression in the UK, it highlighted evidence suggesting a string of other countries including India, Rwanda, Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had sought to target people in Britain. MPs and peers said they had also received 'substantial' evidence of intimidation by the Eritrean government, including surveillance of anti-government activists and infiltration of community groups and churches in an effort to isolate opponents of the regime. The committee went on to criticise Interpol, saying the organisation had refused to acknowledge misuse of 'red notices' – international requests for an arrest – to harass dissidents or take any steps to address this. Almost half of the 6,550 public red notices currently in circulation have been issued at Russia's request. Lord Alton said: 'We want to see a two-pronged approach from the Government. 'More needs to be done to give support and protection to the individuals and communities most at risk of transnational repression. 'We also want to see transnational repression prioritised in diplomatic relations and leadership at an international level to tackle the misuse and exploitation of systems of justice to silence and intimidate.' As well as pressing Interpol for action on abuse of red notices, the committee urged the Government to provide more training on transnational repression for police officers in the UK and greater protection from vexatious lawsuits known as Slapps (strategic lawsuits against public participation). The committee also called for China to be placed in the highest tier of the foreign influence registration scheme that came into effect last month, saying its omission risked 'undermining the credibility and coherence' of the scheme given the extent of Chinese transnational repression. An Interpol spokesperson said: 'Every year, thousands of the world's most serious criminals are arrested thanks to Interpol's systems. 'Children are saved from sexual exploitation and terrorists, cyber criminals and traffickers are brought to justice. 'Interpol knows red notices are powerful tools for law enforcement co-operation, which is why we have robust processes for ensuring that all Interpol notices and diffusions comply with our rules. 'Our constitution forbids Interpol from undertaking activities of a political, military, religious or racial character and all our databases and activities must also comply with the universal declaration for human rights.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We take the threat of transnational repression extremely seriously. 'Any attempts by a foreign state to coerce, intimidate, harass, or harm individuals on UK soil are considered a threat to our national security and sovereignty, and will not be tolerated. 'The committee's review echoes many of the same findings and recommendations from the Defending Democracy Taskforce report on TNR, published in May, and we are already taking action arising from those recommendations to further strengthen our response.'
